London

SPECIALIST New York lawyer Charles Goldstein and academic Mara Wantuch will be exploring the issue of Holocaust-related assets in a seminar at the Notre Dame Law Centre in London on November 19.

It was all smiles as ATG Editor-in-Chief Mark Bridge presented the awards to the prizewinners at the Asian Art In London champagne gala reception at the Victoria and Albert Museum on November 4.

The unique Russian Catherine the Great 1755 gold 20 rouble coin sold for a record price of £1.55m hammer at St James's Auctions on November 6.

Two fine early 19th century clocks were among more than 100 mostly antique items stolen in Kingston upon Thames on October 10.

THE British Antique Dealers’ Association celebrated its 90th anniversary with a dinner for 160 members and guests at Fishmongers Hall in the City of London on November 4.

THIS cello by William Forster, London c.1780 became the highest value lot sold through ATG's online bidding service the-saleroom.com when it brought £38,000 (plus 20 per cent buyer's premium) at musical instrument specialists Brompton's on November 3.

DESPITE all the recent bad news about The Mall antiques centre, the dealers in Camden Passage, are holding a late-night shopping evening on Saturday November 29.

THIS month's Winter Fine Art & Antiques Fair, to be held at Olympia from November 10 to 16, has a particularly strong jewellery section, with international Geneva-based jewellers Grima showing for the first time at any fair, and one of London's fastest rising young stars of the jewellery scene, Symbolic and Chase, also making their debut.

NEXT summer the first Russian Art Fair will be launched at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower, Knightsbridge, London. It will run from June 6 to 9 to coincide with the Russian sales at the major auction houses.

Stall and hire rates have been cut in a move to attract more dealers to London’s Friday Bermondsey Market, now back in Bermondsey Square.

THE contemporary art downturn had a tangible effect on the market for urban art as the sales staged in London by Bonhams in New Bond Street on October 23 and Dreweatts in Shoreditch on October 14 witnessed greater selectivity amongst buyers.

Edinburgh-based auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull have taken the decision to restructure their operation in the South of England. While the London office will continue as before, they have parted company with three members of staff.

Auction Atrium are to hold a two-part evening course on English and Continental Porcelain.

The Watercolours & Drawings Fair is to move to a new venue at The Flower Cellars in Russell Street, Covent Garden for its next fair from February 4-8.

A Bank of England £1m Treasury note sold at Spink on October 1 for £68,000.

Help is at hand for well-heeled jobseekers intent on gaining an entry into the art world. Sophie Macpherson Fine Art Recruitment and Consultancy, together with Virginia Sykes-Wright, project director of Asian Art in London, have developed a new Fine Art Careers Course designed to help people break into a highly competitive employment marketplace.

THE campaign to save The Mall in Camden Passage appears to be facing defeat, with the landlords of the North London antiques centre having evicted all the remaining dealers. The iconic Grade II listed building at the head of the famous antiques thoroughfare, which formerly housed over 30 dealers, now lies empty with the shutters down.

It proved, as predicted, to be the highest priced item in London Islamic week sales, but the Fatimid rock crystal ewer did not generate quite the fireworks that were expected before it came up for sale at Christie's on October 7.

LAPADA have announced new dates and a new Mayfair venue for the 2009 staging of their flagship London event. The LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair will be held from September 24 to 27 in a purpose-built marquee located in the centre of Berkeley Square in the very heart of Mayfair, London W1.

Royal Worcester porcelain is one of those collecting areas which is plentiful enough in its many different ornamental styles to support a wide collecting base. There are buyers for all the different forms, from George Owen’s scarce reticulated vases to Doris Lindner’s equestrian models.